Johnny Depp Confirms Return As Grindelwald For ‘Fantastic Beasts 3’

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Johnny Depp has confirmed his return for another outing as the villainous Grindelwald in the third installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise.

After making his debut in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Depp will be seen in a much more prominent role next month as the main villain in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The sequel, which is set in Paris, France, features the return of Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander as he embarks on his latest journey, joined by Hogwarts professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) who enlists Newt’s help in catching the most powerful dark wizard of the modern era, Gellert Grindelwald played by Depp.

Speaking with Collider, Depp confirmed his return for the third film as he revealed he’s “[looking] forward to the next installment, which I think we start the middle of next year,” while also opening up about his experience joining the franchise:

“It was amazing. It came out of nowhere. Someone said J.K. Rowling would like to talk to me. I spoke to a few producers and the director and to J.K. and had long conversations basically about the Grindelwald character. J.K. said something I did not expect to hear because obviously her detail to her characters and those wizarding worlds is astonishing. The fact that she said, “I can’t wait to see what you do with the character.”

Just to hand it off to me with that degree of trust, I was really touched, blown away by that. So I jumped into locating the character and I had my ideas. I came in and it all seemed to work out. Grindelwald is an interesting character. His intentions in his mind are for the greater good, but there have been other people in world politics and such who felt the same way. [chuckles] He’s very dedicated to his beliefs. He’s not a fun character; he’s not funny.”

Directed by David Yates, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald stars Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Alison Sudol, Dan Fogler, Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller, Jude Law, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, David Sakurai, Claudia Kim, Brontis Jodorowsky, Wolf Roth, Victoria Yeates, Derek Riddell, Poppy Corby-Tuech, and Cornell S. John.

Here’s the synopsis for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald:

J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for the film, which opens in 1927, a few months after Newt helped to unveil and capture the infamous Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. However, as he promised he would, Grindelwald has made a dramatic escape and has been gathering more followers to his cause—elevating wizards above all non-magical beings. The only one who might be able to stop him is the wizard he once called his dearest friend, Albus Dumbledore. But Dumbledore will need help from the wizard who had thwarted Grindelwald once before, his former student Newt Scamander. The adventure reunites Newt with Tina, Queenie and Jacob, but his mission will also test their loyalties as they face new perils in an increasingly dangerous and divided wizarding world.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald hits theaters on November 16, 2018.

Source: Collider

Michael Mistroff

Michael Mistroff

News Editor, Film/TV Reporter at Heroic Hollywood.